Summary

The first campus wide GIS Day Expo was held November 14th, 2012 at the National Weather Center located on the University of Oklahoma Research Campus.
The event was coordinated by the Center for Spatial Analysis and Earth Observation and Modeling Facility,
two closely affiliated university sponsored research centers working in geospatial information science and technology.
The organizing committee was multidisciplinary and included representatives from a wide variety of campus entities.
The event featured a GIS exhibition, graduate student poster contest, speakers, K-12 activities and more.

Participation

Participation in OU GIS Day was free and open to the campus and public. Participants included students, faculty and staff from across campus,
representatives from government agencies and private industry, K-12 students and others in the local GIS community. Registration was not required so actual attendance is unknown.
There were 92 total registered volunteers, exhibitors and other participants in addition to 101 high school students

Sponsorship

Funding for OU GIS Day was provided by 14 partners from across campus, government agencies and private industry. Sponsors are listed below

OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences

Oklahoma NASA Space Grant

Oklahoma NSF EPSCoR

OU Vice President for Research

OU Graduate College

OU NSF EPSCoR Track II CyberCommons Project

OU Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology

OU Earth Observation and Modeling Facility

OU Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability

Oklahoma Biological Survey

Oklahoma Geological Survey

Oklahoma NASA Space Grant

Oklahoma NSF EPSCoR

Access Midstream Partners

Spectral Evolution

Weather Decision Technologies, Inc.

Exhibitors

Booth space for exhibition at OU GIS Day was open to the campus and the public. A total of 27 exhibitors hosted booths at the event representing academic department
and research centers, government agencies, private industry and more. A list of participants is provided below.

OU research and outreach centers:

Center for Spatial Analysis

Earth Observation and Modeling Facility

Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Laboratory

K20 Center for EducationLandcover

Land Use Change Group

Oklahoma Lab for Transportation Research, Education and Outreach

Oklahoma NASA Space Grant

OU Information technologyRadar Aeroecology Group

OU academic departments:

Landscape Architecture

Geography and Environmental Sustainability

Regional and City Planning

OU Microbiology and Plant Biology

OU Health Science Center Biostatistics and Epidemiology

State government participants:

Oklahoma Geological Survey

Oklahoma Biological Survey

Federal government participants:

DOI South Central Climate Science Center

NOAA/National Severe Storms Lab

USDA-ARS Grazing Lands Research Laboratory

Private industry participants:

Access Midstream Partners

Spectral Evolution

Weather Decision Technologies, Inc.

Other participants:

Tulsa Community College

Oklahoma South Central Arc User Group

OU Student Chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network

Speakers

OU GIS Day featured a welcome and introduction by Kelvin Droegemeier, OU Vice President for Research
and keynote address from Dr. Berrien Moore, Dean of OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and Director of the National Weather Center.
The event also featured presentations on geospatial information science and technology Phillip Hanley of ERGIS,
DeWayne Mitchell of Weather Decision Technologies and Craig Moody of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

Graduate Student Poster Contest

With support from the University of Oklahoma Graduate College OU GIS Day featured a graduate student poster contest.
14 students from 7 academic departments under 6 different colleges at OU participated. Entries were judged by a panel from the OU GIS Day committee and three prizes were awarded.

K-12 Participation and Activities

The OU GIS Day committee worked with the University of Oklahoma Prospective Student Services (PSS) Diversity Enrichment Program to involve area high school students in the event.
The students attended a presentation by PSS and technical demonstrations in GIS, remote sensing and mobile application development by CSA student research assistants and OU information
technology. After browsing the GIS Day Expo the students had lunch at a campus cafeteria. 101 high school juniors and seniors from 6 participating schools attended with 10 adult sponsors.
Participants were selected by school counselors from the top 20 – 25% percent of their class and must be eligible for admittance to OU.
Each school is considered a high-minority serving institution and has a high incidence of poverty according to the Oklahoma Education Oversight Board Office of Accountability.
Profiles of participating schools can be viewed at the links below.